The present disclosure generally relates to portable food handling devices for use during eating foodstuffs, especially those often considered as difficult, awkward, or messy to handle, such as slices of pizza, hot dogs, sushi, doughnuts, bagels, salads, cakes, etc., and, more particularly, for holding and eating such foodstuffs in a sanitary, tidy manner, that is without soiling one's hands, without spilling drippings, pieces, or toppings of the foodstuff, without having one's hands directly touch and contaminate the foodstuff to thereby prevent the spread of disease, and without using any traditional eating accessories, such as plates, and/or utensils, such as knives, spoons, chopsticks, and forks, and, still more particularly, relates to portable food handling devices that are used to feed solid and/or non-solid foodstuffs in a comfortable and sanitary maimer directly to a user's mouth without using such eating accessories and can be beneficial in both indoor and outdoor activities, sports arenas, cafeterias, hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, schools, universities, cars, boats, planes, as well as in disaster relief kits, and the like. In addition, the food handling devices are advantageously sized to fit inside lunch boxes. In its broadest aspect, the devices disclosed herein can even handle and dispense non-food items.
Pizza is an example of a foodstuff that is often difficult to handle, especially when the foodstuff is hot. The commonest form in which pizza is served is a generally triangular sector slice taken from a circular pie, generally formed when the pie is cut by several diametrical slices. This form is difficult to handle mostly because of the soft and limp nature of the pointed end, which tends to droop and allow any loose toppings, usually lubricated by cheese and sauce, to slide off and often end up on the user's hands, food tray, or lap, or on the floor. Other types of messy foods include, for example, a hot dog, especially when smothered with multiple loose toppings, a hamburger, a gyro, a taco, a burrito, sushi, a salad, a cake, etc. Frequently, toppings, including sauce, can fall off from the foodstuff, even when held with two hands. Even non-food items can sometimes be difficult to handle and dispense in a sanitary manner.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and locations of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure,
The devices and assembly components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.